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For the 11th year in a row, the Sabin Vaccine Institute has received Charity Navigator's highest rating. Charity Navigator awarded Sabin a 4-star rating for "demonstrating strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency" in 2016, according to a letter from the organization. Only 1 percent of nonprofits evaluated by Charity Navigator have received at least 11 consecutive 4-star evaluations.

After struggling with outbreaks for more than a year, Zimbabwe is facing yet another deadly wave of typhoid as it begins 2017. Hundreds of cases have been reported across the country over the past three months, the vast majority of which have occurred in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city, where the local government struggles to provide clean water and to contain sewage. Because typhoid is spread through contaminated food and water, the lack of these basic services means that typhoid bacteria can easily spread throughout the city. Although there are two vaccines for typhoid on the market, both of which have proven safe and effective, they are not readily available to Zimbabweans, even those that live in high-risk areas.

An estimated two billion people lack the medicines they need. The 2016 Access to Medicines Index analyzes pharmaceutical companies’ efforts to improve access to medicines, vaccines and diagnostics for low- and middle-income countries.

As 2016 has come to a close, our team at the Coalition against Typhoid would like to take a moment to reflect on this busy year. It was a year that illustrated, more clearly than ever, that typhoid is a continuing and major threat to millions around the world. Over the course of 2016, an estimated 21 million people – most of them children – suffered from typhoid. Of these, 220,000 died of the disease. We saw typhoid outbreaks in Malawi, Fiji, Zimbabwe and other countries. In endemic countries like India and Nepal, the monsoon season worsened the impact of this disease. In 2016, typhoid struck at ordinary places like schools and weddings, and also at the most vulnerable places, such as refugee camps, reminding us that this disease doesn’t discriminate.